The Lu Lac Edition #1790, October 10th, 2011

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RELIGION & THE RIGHT

Just when you think the race for President on the Republican side couldn’t get any stranger, this weekend the religious debates came out of the woodwork. A TV Pastor said at the Values Voter Summit in Washington that Rick Perry was the only candidate who truly understood the religious values of this country. Dallas mega church Baptist minister and prominent evangelical leader Robert Jeffress essentially said that the other candidates were not worthy to receive the nod from the Christian right. Afterward in an interview in the hallway, he referred to the Mormon Church (of which Mitt Romney is a member) was a “cult”. This immediately brought rebukes from members of the Republican party. The funniest one and as always with humor comes irony and then truth came from former Education Secretary Bill Bennett. Take a look at this video:

This pastor will be relegated to the junk heap of Presidential political trivia just like the Reverend Wright of the 2008 Obama campaign. A new debate or new issue will take its place. But for now, we have to be extremely careful with how we mix religion and politics. 51 years ago this month, Senator John Kennedy had to defend himself in front of Protestant ministers in Houston. In no uncertain terms JFK had to proclaim that he would be no tool of the papacy. (Given Kennedy’s string of girlfriends behind closed doors you have to wonder if the Curia knew all about that they’d even want anything to do with the would be President!) More than a half century later, religious leaders feel the need to downgrade a fellow candidate’s beliefs, implying that one religion or set of beliefs is better than another. That’s just plain crazy and as Bennett said did no good for Rick Perry. The Mormons are not a cult, they’ve been in business for over 100 years. Like most religions, they do have a tendency to stick together and perhaps be less ecumenical than other religions. But cult? It is after named The Church (not cult but Church) of Jesus Christ (you remember JC, he’s the one that Christians continually give credit to their salvation) of Latter-day Saints. (Saints, not Devils, intermediaries or whatever name). So after you break it down, it is a church, not a cult. It does have buildings, it is associated with Jesus and it by definition is saintly. In my opinion, Mitt Romney was way too kind to this mega church “Christian”. This was a disservice to the Presidential race, the candidates who spoke before the group and those 14 million members of that “cult” that is in fact a church and a religion.